Persian Script, Orthography, and Vocabulary
What this domain tests
This domain checks letter recognition, joining behaviour, dots, hamza, tashdid, tanvin, ezafe marking, spelling conventions, and vocabulary building through roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
Core rules
- The Persian alphabet has 32 letters. Most have four positional forms: isolated, initial, medial, and final.
- Seven letters never join to the following letter: ا، د، ذ، ر، ز، ژ، و. They do join to the preceding letter when writing continues.
- Dots distinguish letter families: ب پ ت ث; ج چ ح خ; د ذ; ر ز ژ; س ش; ص ض; ط ظ; ع غ; ف ق. A missing dot is a spelling error, not a style choice.
- Persian-specific letters are پ، چ، ژ، گ. Write ک, not Arabic ك; write ی, not Arabic ي; write ه, not ة at word end.
- Short vowels are usually omitted. Ezafe may be written as ـِ or left unwritten; tashdid (ّ) doubles a consonant; tanvin (ً ٌ ٍ) occurs in Arabic loanwords; hamza (ء) may sit on و، ی، or ه.
Worked example
Word: «کتابخانه» = library. Reasoning: it is a compound of کتاب ('book') and خانه ('house'). ک joins to ت, ت joins to ا, but ا does not join to the following ب; ب joins to خ, خ joins to ا, and ا does not join to ن; ن joins to ه. The word is written as one unit, not as two separate words, and no ezafe is pronounced between the parts.
Traps that cost marks
- Trying to join ا، د، ذ، ر، ز، ژ، و to the next letter.
- Confusing ب، پ، ت، ث because one dot is misplaced or omitted.
- Writing Arabic ي or ك in a Persian answer.
- Inserting an ezafe where a compound noun has none: کتابخانه, not کتابِخانه.
- Splitting compounds such as دانشآموز incorrectly.